Their Last Stand
by Shinata - The Wandering Neko
Summary: Unlucky you, you don't know what happens right after this. Your legs slip out from under you and you fall straight into a puddle of dark red blood, blacking out.
1. Chapter 1

You are Karkat Vantas and you are sitting in the corner of an unknown hive, gawking at your tall troll friend while you clutch your sickle for some sort of comfort. You can't believe what you just heard. You can't believe that he chose now of all times to tell you something you have been wanting to hear for so fucking long. You want to say something, you want to hear him say it again to make sure you are hearing him correctly. But you don't want it to be now. You don't want it to be the moment before you die...

[earlier... aka: how the hell you got into this damned situation.]

You were all back on your home planet, Alternia. The game had ended. You all somehow won and pulled through. Motherfucking miracles as Gamzee put it. Point is, you were all back on Alternia and safe and sound. At least... you thought you would have all been safe and sound once the game had ended, but to put it bluntly, You were all fucking screwed.

There were two problems with being back on Alternia:

One: You were all teleported to the middle of fucking nowhere, miles away from your hives.

Two: The whole of Alternia was dead silent. No one was outside, even though it was night.

But that isn't the worst part of it all, oh no. The worst part of it is that there were smears of blood. All along the street there were trails of dried blood and smear marks where it looked like somebody was dragging a dead body. And, to top it all off, none of your friends were in sight. You had all been teleported to completely different areas, away from each other, separated. You were completely alone.

Seeing the rainbow array of colors all over the place made you feel extremely nauseous. You could feel yourself slowly getting light headed. You need to find a place with trolls before you fall over. Lucky for you. Your hemophobia isn't getting the best of you at the moment. Grasping your sickle tight, you glance around.

Everything looks eyrie and dark. Not that you mind it being dark, all trolls like the dark, but you can't shake a feeling that you have. Like someone is watching you. The dark and eyrie silence just makes it worse. You do, however, spot a hive with some lights on. Maybe some one was in there. Maybe some one could help.

You make your way across the road to the hive, running pretty fast. You ignore the weird noises you are hearing, passing it off as paranoia. Finally, you make it to the door with nothing to worry about. No one had tried to kill you, you didn't fall, and you could ignore the blood. As you near the already open door, the wind blows, creating a whistling noise as it rustles trees, making you jump.

_Stop acting like a grubfucking scared wriggler! _You yell at yourself.

But, when you actually step through the door into a lit room, you deem yourself the most unluckiest troll who had ever taken a breath of their miserable life. Your nausea comes back at full blast. Your eyes widen and you feel as though something is going to come up your protein chute. In the lit room are splashes of fresh blood. Everywhere. You start having slight trouble breathing. Unlucky you, you don't know what happens right after this. Your legs slip out from under you and you fall straight into a puddle of dark red blood, blacking out.


	2. Chapter 2

When you finally awake, something warm is being wiped across your face. You barely open your eyes to find yourself in a really fucking bright room. Every god damn light was on. What kind of troll would ever live somewhere so bright? Trying to ignore the light, you take note of the surroundings that you can feel. For one thing, you are on the floor of some hive. And another thing, you know someone is sitting next to you, but you aren't sure who it is.

You blink a few times and sit up. Wait. Was it night or day at the moment? How long have you even been out? Not wasting any time, you turn your head to look out the window just as the person next to you says, "Karkat. I don't think you want to turn your head like that at the moment."

Too late.

When you turn your head, an aching pain seems to come out of no where between your shoulder and neck. Grasping it to try and null the pain a bit, you groan, "Fuck." Why the hell does your shoulder hurt so much?

"I told you not to turn your head because you might get hurt, but I think I was a bit late on my warning." Your friend, Kanaya Maryam, states. She is sitting next to you holding a slightly pinkish looking washcloth. You are both sitting in someone's respite block.

"No shit." You say, grasping your shoulder harder. It still hurt like fuck. Why the hell are you in someone's respite block anyway? How did you get here? You decide to ask Kanaya about that, and your shoulder.

Kanaya looks off into the distance, thinking. After a somewhat long silence she answers, "I'm not sure how you found a hive with working electricity, but I found you down stairs in the doorway, covered with dark red blood. Truthfully, I almost thought you were dead, but then I realized that it wasn't your blood. I decided to bring you up here and clean you off a bit." She conveniently doesn't mention anything about your shoulder. "I am also very sure that it is night time at the moment."

You feel a little sick thinking about all the blood on the bottom floor of the hive, but you try to not let it bother you; what good would it do to faint right after you woke up? You feel around on your shoulder, trying to search for a cut or wound that might have made it hurt so much. After a little while of searching, you find something quite strange. Why the hell are there two little dots on your shoulder? Despite the pain you know is about to come, you turn your head toward Kanaya and look at her.

Although, at the moment, she seemed pretty fucking interested in the washcloth she was holding. You can tell that she knew you are staring at her. You also know for a fact that Kanaya was somehow involved in your shoulder. Being the impatient little troll you are, you ask her, "What did you do?"

For once, the girl seems at a loss for words. Her eyes wander throughout the room, searching for anything to look at but you. She fiddles with what you realize has to be a blood stained cloth. After the longest moment in your life, she looks at you and says, "How should I put this?" she looks back down at the cleaning utility and slightly bites her lip. "I... may have bitten you." she looks up at you to see your expression.

Surprisingly, you don't explode at her with anger. Instead, you sigh and rest the bridge of your nose between your thumb and index finger. What. The. Fuck. Why the hell did she have to turn into a rainbow drinker? It just makes life more frustrating for you. But, now is not the time to look at how your miserable life plays out on a daily baises. Now is the time to make a plan.

You look back at Kanaya and ask, "Is there anyone else here? Maybe one of our friends or another troll?"

She shakes her head and replies, "I haven't seen anyone else, yet. I woke up out in a forest near this hive actually, but I have not seen anyone except you." She looks like she was about to go on, but stopped and turned a hearing duct toward the door. Her eyes widened as she turned toward you. There was no question that needed to be asked. You both heard it.

You yourself were already a bit scared before this, but now it's ten times worse. You instinctivilly scoot closer to Kanaya. There was a very loud crash from somewhere in the house. But that isn't the scary part. The scary part was the honking noise you can hear at the bottom of the stairs.


	3. Chapter 3

You and Kanaya exchange glances, making a silent agreement. Kanaya gets up and you, despite your injured shoulder, insist that you go with her by snatching up your sickle and standing next to her. You both quietly walk toward the open doorway.

You poke your head out, glancing up and down the hall. No one is there, but you hear another honking noise and somebody swearing in an all too familiar voice, "Motherfucker." Terrified out of your mind, you sneak across the hall to the wall on the side of the staircase. You make a hand motion at Kanaya, telling her to come over. She swiftly walks over to you. You take a deep breath and look around the corner.

Oh gog, oh gog, oh gog. Gamzee Makara is at the bottom of the stairs. Surprisingly, something like relief washes over you when you see him at the bottom of the stairs, alive. You aren't so tense. But, Gamzee is supposed to be your worst nightmare. Why the hell would you feel relieved? You should feel relieved if the damned troll was dead... right? You're such a stupid fuck...

But the feeling changes almost entirely when you realize a horrible fact. Gamzee is covered from head to toe in blood of all colors. Your eyes look like they are about to pop out of your head they widen so much. Your breathing gets a little heavier as fear completely overtakes you, washing out all of your relief, all of it. It's even worse when he glances up at you.

(_Holy Fuck.) _You think as you whip back to the wall, out of sight. (_Did he see me?) _

You hold your sickle to your chest and send a slightly terrified glance to Kanaya, who proceeds to move you away from the stairs a bit to get in front of you. You are absolutely sure that you and Kanaya both will die, no matter who takes him on first. He killed a bunch of you guys when you were playing Sgrub, so why not kill you now?

Even though he was batshit insane back at the veil, his voice says differently. "Karkat?" there was a long pause and you can hear him take a step up the stairs, "Was that you?". He didn't (_sound) _like he wanted to beat you to death with a duce club, or cut you to death slowly in some sadistic way with your own sickle, but you are still scared; what if it was just an act?

You squeeze your eyes shut when you hear him start to walk up the stair case; Kanaya is by your side, chainsaw at the ready. You and Kanaya, well mostly Kanaya because your acting like a scared piece of shit, have your eyes trained on the stairs. You fail to take notice of a shadowed figure in the window nearby dragging itself through.

Suddenly, you hear something between a growl, gurgle and something like a dying hissing cat. You open your eyes to see this (_thing) _near the next window over. It's crawling on the floor, half dead, dragging itself toward you. You can tell it used to be a troll by the faded candy-corn coloured horns, and rotting gray skin. It is the most disgusting thing you have ever seen. You are somewhat nauseated at the fact that it is dragging blood all over the place and what looks to be bile is coming out of its mouth. If Terezi were here with you guys, she would have died from the smell.

But you don't die from the smell, you don't say a thing; you just stare at it. Too afraid to move, too afraid to think. It reminds you of some sick twisted horror movie Egbert told you about at one point. Your breath hitches as you realize that it's not Gamzee who would kill you, it's this thing. Kanaya doesn't notice you or the thing coming toward you. She is too busy training her eyes on the stairs.

Then, something happens that you will be most embarrassed about later on and you will deny that you ever did it. Your bodily instinct takes over and before you know it the highest pitch scream in the history of trolls escapes your protein chute and rings throughout the hive.

Kanaya, of course, rips her eyes from the stairs to look at you. "Karkat, what are you screaming about!" she asks you, trying to be heard over your scream. Her question is soon answered after your scream died out and a hideous noise sounds from behind her. She whips around just in time to see Gamzee shoot from the staircase and smash the rotting monster into the nearest wall with his duce club.

"Geez motherfucker, you OK?" he starts, turning toward you, "Your scream could have been heard from my hive, and trust me, it's no where near here."


	4. Chapter 4

"You nooksucking shitstain. I didn't scream. Your hearing ducts must be fucked." It had only taken you a few short seconds to recover from what happened; and you _didn't_ scream. What six sweep old would scream at something like that? A real troll would have charged the thing... then again, you didn't do that either.

"Karkat. I am quite sure the noise which made my ears want to bleed was your high pitch scream." Kanaya states. But, before you can make some snarky reply, Gamzee cuts in, "A motherfucker has to agree with the rainbowdrinker. You screamed, bro."

You growl and you look like you are about to kill someone, particularly Gamzee, but he says something that throws you completely off guard. "Calm down, I mean, it's not like you don't look cute when you scream." He says this so casually that it takes you a few moments to register what he says, but when you do, your face lights up red. You are speechless.

In the meantime, Kanaya is prodding the _thing _with her chainsaw. She has a thoughtful expression, looking at the thing on the floor and studying its body when she starts to speak, pausing and choosing her words carefully, "... It appears to be a rotting troll... I think it might be an undead, something that is neither dead, nor alive. Something the humans call a zombie." She pauses and glances up at you and Gamzee. "But," she starts back up, "This one looks slightly different. I noticed a type of black smokey thing coming off of it before Gamzee, well, smashed it." she looks up at the both of you, waiting for a reaction, but when she sees your horrified face, she quickly adds on, "There is no need to worry. I don't think its one of our friends."

You relax a little, but only a little, as this gives you some relief. But, none-the-less, you shiver at the thought of one of your friends turning into one of these things. What if that had been Terezi? Or Sollux? You don't think you'd be able to stand it if one of them died.

You all stare down at the troll for an awkwardly long time before you speak up, "Well, I say we go back into the respiteblock and plan shit out. I feel a lot safer in a place with only a few openings." It doesn't take them a very long time to agree and follow you back into the respiteblock, and soon, you are all making yourselves as comfortable as you can.

You start pacing, thinking about everything that's happened. Soon enough, your sitting on the ground, staring at the floor, forming out a plan for what to do next. You needed to find the others, no questions asked. It will be your guys first mission. The next thing to worry about is supplies. The hive you sit in probably has them. You would need food, which would be easy enough to get.

As you think of various things you will need, Kanaya sits down on the floor near you, probably thinking about things too, while Gamzee is sitting a bit closer to you, just... staring at you. As much as it bugs you, you need to focus on something else. Anything else besides Gamzee. Why is he staring at you like your his flush crush...? ...Wait. Could he be...? No, that was a ridiculous thought, get it out of your head, now. Focus on supplies, damn it.

Food, some kind of pack to put the food in, rope, weapons, water... was there anything else? You can't think of anything, then again, you can't really think straight about anything with him staring at you like that. You look at your companions, mainly Kanaya. You have the gist of what you need to do in your head.

"Ok." You start, breaking the silence and getting their attention. "First things first. We need to find our friends. Second, we need to pack a lot of supplies. This could be a really fucking long journey." You list off the supplies you thought of in your head and glance at your friends, particularly Kanaya, who gives a few suggestions of supplies and makes an important comment.

"Karkat, and this is only a theory and a slim possibility, but... what if we can't find anyone?" She asked you.

There is a brief silence while the thought of finding no one washes over you. What if you really can't find anyone? What if they were all dead? Could it be possible that they all turned into those undead things? You stare at the ground, searching for an answer in your head. You are the leader of the group, you need to give words of encouragement. You specifically can not freak out or act scared.

Collecting yourself, you state simply, "We will find them. Maybe not all of them, but most of them." another god damned brief silence. "If we really can't find anyone, then we are all completely fucked and we will hide away for the rest of our miserable short lives."

You feel a little better at getting a few things sorted out, but Kanaya's comment did do a toll on your thinkpan. To get your mind off of it, you begin to pack up a few of the things you mentioned earlier. You inform the others that they should probably start packing too. For the sake of being easy and old fashion, you all scavenger around the troll's hive and find a couple of packs you can put supplies in. You run around the hive, searching every nook and cranny for things you might need.

It doesn't take you very long to collect up the supplies. Food, rope, a sleeping mat (One of Kanaya's suggestions), water (in mobile water containers), and, lastly, you make sure you have your weapon in you strife specibi. You make sure everyone else does the same. Once you are absolutely sure that everything is ok and set, you shut off the lights in the hive, all of them. If there are no lights, then it is less likely for something to attack you guys.

Everything is good, everything is prepared. You tell everyone that now is the time to sleep, as it is nearing dawn. You need rest and no doubt, your friends do to. Without another thought, you grab your pack and curl around it, falling asleep onto the rugged floor...


	5. Chapter 5

You were up in the air, staring down at a horrible scene. She was terrified, running blindly. Her hair caught on low tree branches, and her feet snagged on roots. Why the fuck didn't she have her weapon? Why was she running like she couldn't see? Her arms were out in front of her, feeling her way.

There was a horrible growling noise. You stare in horror unable to do a fucking thing as she trips on a log that she was unable to see. Teal tears run down her cheeks as she flips over and puts her arms in front of her chest in an act to try and protect herself.

It was only when the creature was upon her, only when the growling was as load as it could get, only when the cry fills the air that you realize the teal stuff coming out of her nose wasn't snot, but blood. It was only when the high pitch scream of Terezi Pyrope filled the air that you realize her nose is broken and she can't see.

There is a blood curdling scream for help as the creature overcomes her. The name she yells brings tears to your eyes and blurs your vision. You can't do anything, she is getting killed, yelling the last name you expected to hear from her.

_Karkat!_

You jolt awake and sit up, her scream ringing through your head, the scene playing over and over. You look around. Your still in the respiteblock with Kanya and Gamzee; nightfall has come. It was only a damned nightmare. It's not like it was real or anything. You bring a hand up to your face, and realize that there is something wet. Tears. Your such a stupid grubfuck. It was only a dream. The chances of it happening are absolutely zero. And besides, if it does happen, she can still hear, right?

Despite this, you are still a little shaky when you go to wake up Kanaya and Gamzee. Kanaya wakes up and looks at you with concern written all over her face, but when you don't say anything about what is troubling you, she starts to get her pack. Gamzee wakes up and looks at you with that stupid dreamy expression of his. Looking down at him, you decide that he actually looks kind of cute like that. Wait, what the hell are you saying? Scowling at yourself and at Gamzee for his stupid expression, you toss his pack onto him and, shouldering your own, tell them that you all need to leave and search for friends.

As they get up and shoulder their packs, you inform them, "OK. Have your weapon out at all times. Don't wander away from each other under any circumstances. We need to stay together. There are only three of us, so if one of us gets lost, then the other two are screwed. And lastly, keep your hearing ducts open not only for those horrible creatures, but for our friends too. Clear?" they both reply with a nod of the head. "Let's go."

You all walk out of the hive, looking around the dark deserted street. Weapons at the ready, you search the other hives, just too make sure no one is there. Not very surprising. You don't come across a single living thing, or dead thing, or anything in the fucking between.

You stand there a moment. The question you are faced with now is which way? Into the forest? Or onto the road? Scratching at your thinkpan, you come to a decision. Into the forest. Gamzee and Kanaya both woke up in a forest, right? So, there might just be others in there too. You all head off into the forest.

As you walk along, you subconsciously move closer to Gamzee. Not only is the forest darker than usual, but it's damn creepy too. Every once in a while, you hear that growling gurgling noise. All of you stop dead, listening, searching.

So far, you haven't come across anyone or anything and you are all virtually lost in the middle of a gog damned forest. It doesn't help that Kanaya and Gamzee have been begin creepily quiet. Nothing has been said since you left the hive as you have all been too busy listening for noises.

It seems as though you have been searching for an eternity when a scream rips through the air. You whip around at Gamzee and Kanaya; they heard it too. That scream was eerily familiar. Not wasting any time, you speed of, sprinting as fast as you can. It doesn't take you very long to find where the scream came from, in fact, you run right into her.

She looks horrified. Her eyes are wide with fear, her face full of terror and she has her claws unsheathed. You feel woozy just looking at her as she splattered in blue blood. She is breathing heavily as though she had been running and soon you find out why. The thing coming up behind her growls.

He has a wild look to his eyes. He is covered in his own blood and looks more dead than the rotting troll you had come up to before. But this time, it can actually walk. This time, it is somebody you know. The sunglasses, the broken horn, the bead of sweat as he comes up behind Nepeta. It's none other than Equius Zahhak.


	6. Chapter 6

It all happens in a flash. Your instincts take over and you go into overdrive as he raises his arm to strike at Nepeta. He is going to try and kill her. You know this. As his hand comes down, you push Nepeta out of the way and lash out with your sickle.

You slash him across the chest, forming a huge gash of blue. It really pains you to be attacking an old teammate. You close your eyes when you make the swing. He lets out a load roar and knocks you to the side, not holding back. Good fucking thing he didn't scratch you or draw blood. Then you would really be screwed. But fuck. Equius's hits aren't anything to be taken lightly. When he whacked you out of the way, the wind was knocked out of you . Not to mention you got smashed into a damned tree. He starts to advance on you, wild-like, almost as if he doesn't know what he's doing.

You try to move out of the way before he hit you again because it will surely kill you, but you can't. The pain in your side, where you got hit, is too great. But just when you think it's all going to end, just when you think Equius is going to kill you right then and there, a celestial glow appears in your vision.

The next thing you know, Kanaya is beside you, making sure you're alright and Gamzee is pounding Equius with his deuce clubs. You can hear the fight, but you don't dare look. It's too horrible. You can hear the crunching of bones and gurgles and growls. You can hear twigs snapping underfoot as they dance the fight of death. You hear a tearing noise and then a loud _CRACK! _And then, silence. No gurgly growling noise, no snapping twigs. No hard fought battle taking place.

After a short while, you open your eyes to find Gamzee standing there, holding his side with Kanaya giving you both worry filled glances. Nepeta is on the ground, staring at the dead Equius and everyone is quiet. You whisper to Kanaya to go and help Gamzee and, even though it hurts like fuck, you stand up, very unsteadily, to go and comfort Nepeta, who is in the process of tearing up.

As the first olive colored tear falls onto Equius's dead body, you kneel down and put a hand on her shoulder. You know you're not very good at this whole fucking comfort thing, but you try your best. You are a leader, but more importantly, you are a friend and whether you say it or not, you are good at being both.

Quite unexpectedly, Nepeta half pounces, half hugs you and cries into your shoulder. You sigh, trying to find the right words in your think pan. After a while of the olive blood crying, you say, "Nepeta.. I'm not going to tell you that it's ok, because it's really not." it's really not the best way to start off, but you don't give a shit. Your just saying what comes to mind "But... at least you're still alive and I know you and Equius were really close, being morials and all, but you still have friends... You have us." to your surprise, she actually stopped crying a bit during your little speech. After another small silence, you push Nepeta off a little bit so you can see her face and ask, "Are you ok?" you really don't expect her to answer, and you truly don't expect her to be ok after what she just went through. In fact, you expect the the worst; you expect her to break down crying.

But, she stands up and looks at you with a small smile upon her face as she says, "Nepeta nods vigorously and looks down at Karkitty, making sure he is alright!"

She does a damn good job of hiding her emotions. _She probably feels worse than ever. _You think. But you decide that it it for the best that she is acting positive. She is probably just trying to lighten the mood. So, you reply in a way that you know will make her happy, "Karkat looks up at Nepeta and tells her he is ok." You feel very silly doing this, but you do it for the sake of Nepeta.

The next thing you all know, Kanaya is next to Nepeta, holding a water canteen and a wet cloth. She gives her the water canteen and tells her to drink some water; as Nepeta is drinking from the canteen, Kanaya tries to clean her up a bit the the cloth.

While Kanaya is fussing over Nepeta with a wet cloth, wiping the blood off of her, you walk over to Gamzee to check if he is ok. As you walk over there, he looks up at you and smiles, still holding his side... Oh gog, his shirt is torn on the spot where he is clutching it. Your eyes widen when you realize that Equius had drawn blood.

Quickly sitting beside him, you ask, "Gamzee are you ok? Your side is bleeding. Oh gog." You stare at the spot on his side. Indigo blood is spreading through the bandages Kanaya dressed him in. He may have a shirt on, but you can see the bandages through a huge rip in his shirt.

"Calm down, Motherfucker." he starts, calm and cool, "It isn't like I'm dying." he chuckles a little bit while you act worried. You are off on one of your rambles about how he should be more careful when Gamzee starts to say something. "Karkat... I think... I think I know what these things are and I think I know what's causing it..." This catches your attention, making you stop talking. You all already know what they are; they're dead trolls. So why would Gamzee...?

He is still holding his side as he stares at the ground, seeming to look off into space. "My lusus said something at one point... it was something about a horrible troll disease..." he stops, trying to remember what it was; his eyebrows are knit together while he thinks. Suddenly, he shrugs, "Well, a motherfucker can only remember so much. Maybe I'll remember it later."

You look at him, bewildered. He was onto something, something really important... then he forgot it. How fucking convenient. There is a short silence as you both sit there and you remember Gamzee's wound and how Equius drew blood. You can't tell how you know, maybe it's just pure instinct, but you feel as though mixing the troll zombie blood with the living isn't a good thing. Knowing this, you demand from Gamzee how he got that cut during the fight.

"Oh. This thing?" Gamzee asks referencing to the cut on his side, "He got me with an arrow, really motherfuckin' hurt." he starts to go off on describing the rest of the fight and how it's a miracle that he didn't get seriously injured, but you aren't really listening. You are just happy Gamzee is alright.

You allow yourself to smile for once. A smile of slight happiness and relief. You look down at the ground dreamily, thinking of how nice it will be once all of this is over and everyone has been found. Once everyone is safe, you could hang out with Gamzee and... stop. You can't think those kinds of silly thoughts. What are the chances of him liking you anyway? Who in there right or unright mind would like you?

Soon enough, your thoughts are broken by Nepeta, "Nepeta pounces in front of Karkitty. She wonders why he looks so day-dreamy sad when he looks at Gamzee!"

Instead of replying, you feel your face go red and your eyes go wide with surprise. You aren't day-dreamy sad when you look at him! … Are you? A few seconds later, you get up, saying, "Come on, let's keep going. We shouldn't stop too long at night. We should keep going until morning. I don't think those things come out during the day." as you start walking, you hear the others behind you and you don't see, but rather, feel Kanaya and Nepeta smiling at you. And you can most definitely hear Gamzee catch up to you and walk along side you.


	7. Chapter 7

Admitidly you had one hell of a time getting to sleep, not only did you have nightmares, but you couldn't stop thinking about Gamzee. He was on your mind constantly now since you met up with eachother after sgrub. Despite your horrible sleep though, you were right; the rotting trolls don't come out during the day. It was safe to sleep, whether you slept or not is an entirely different story.

And, now, after your horrible achy half-sleep, you are walking through the forest, weapon out, searching for the rest of your friends. There has been no sign of your friends or anything for that matter. The wind had slowed, the trees stopped moving and sounding with animals, no scamper or walk or rotting troll in sight.

You can tell that everyone in the group is about as unnerved by all this as you are. You clutch your sickle a bit tighter and move closer to Gamzee, but of course, your aren't scared, who would be scared at a time like this? Your only a little wary. Then again, a little wary trolls don't jump and scream when a bush next to them rattles.

The rustling continues as you all stare at the bush and... oh gog damn it. It's only Vriska. She's alive, maybe not well, but alive. You are so realieved when she crawls out of the bush with twigs and leaves stuck and scattered about her hair.

She looks at you with a raised eyebrow as she stands up and comments, "Wow, Karkles, I didn't know you could scream so loudly." there is a slight pause as she looks at the rest of you, "or that you were in love with Makara." She smirks.

"So what if I screamed. Anyone would have... and I'm not in love with that fucking clown." you nastily reply, but you notice that your hand is indeed grasping Gamzee's shirt. You quickly let go and comment, "Wow, Vriska, you look like my fucking lusus half digested you and then gurgled you out of his protein chute."

She frowns and looks down at herself. She does indeed appear terrible with all the twigs in her hair and cut all over; not to mention her attire is quite town up. "Well," she starts, dragging her eyes away from herself and looking you over, "You don't look much better."

She is absolutely right, and not only you, but the rest of the party also probably looks like shit, but you will not and so not admit it, so you reply with a muttered, "Whatever..." She may not be the most favored troll to find on your list, but she is another troll and she is powerful. At least she wasn't a dead zombie troll. Even if there was a dead zombie troll thing around, you would hardly notice it and in a few seconds, that thought will be proven true.

It catches you all off guard. Vriska looks at all of you and she seems as though she is about to ask something when it happens. The most unlikely person does it. The next thing you all know, something brown gray flies past you all and into Vriska. There is a splash of blue. In a few seconds, you realize that Vriska was hit by something, a lance to be specific. In a few more seconds, you register she is screaming. She can't defend herself; they had tackled her from the side and her weapon isn't the right weapon to be used quickly in a tight situation. Her mind is probably to disorganized to control anyone with.

The third and final thing you register is that no one is doing anything. They are all too stunned at what just happened. The only person who knows what's happening and isn't too stunned to move is Gamzee, but you know he doesn't want to do it. The problem is, you can't move; you only watch and think as the scene takes place before you.

For you, it happens in slow motion. Gamzee must have realized something, or registered something because you see him whip out a deuce club and invade the scene, smashin the the brown blooded troll off of her. You can see that she has a large scratch on her arm, a pierced shoulder, and a few scratches on her face. You see her eyes dilating before she runs off, scampering through the bushes, leaving behind her dice.

Some more rust colored blood decorates the scene as Gamzee smashes his beloved Tavros. It's quite horrible and a little sad. As the dead Tavros lays there, Gamzee stands stock still; and even though his face is shadowed, you can still see a purple tear slide down his cheek as the two trolls are illuminated by the Alternian moons' lights.

You don't notice Kanaya and Nepeta step forward. You only see Gamzee, silently crying You only feel one emotion, you only have one goal. You want to do something to make it so Gamzee doesn't feel like absolute shit. You want to... you ineed/i to comfort him.

You walk slowly toward him, "Gamzee..." before you can say anything though, he interrupts you, saying something in a barely audible whisper, " Karkat... I remember it... I remember now... It's a horrible disease that took place years ago... called Soul Rot."


	8. Chapter 8

He stands there, staring up at the two moons as he tells the story, and you watch, captivated, but horrified...

"It infects a troll through his blood, no matter the color. Highbloods can get it and so can low bloods. There is no cure, not even for the highbloods..." he pauses, thinking, "My lusus told me that it infected a troll, sweeps beyond sweeps ago. No one knows how it started, but it turned into a pandemic. It was getting out of control. Only one thing could stop it... one thing..." Suddenly, Gamzee looks at you, a face full of sorrow, pain and something else you can't quite place. Was it...? No. It couldn't be; forget about it.

Not being able to stand it, you break the silence, "So? What's the one thing that can stop it?" he doesn't answer right away and your question echoes and fades into the silence.

"I... it's..." he still has that sad pained face on as if he is remembering something that he can't stand to think about. "... I... can'tremember." when you look up to see his eyes, he avoids them. He shifts them from left to right to Kanaya to Nepeta. Anywhere but you. He turns away, looking toward the forest.

He's lying. Of all the times in the world, he has to choose now to lie to you! What. The. Fuck. It is crucial that he tells you right this second what cures the disease. He knows. You know he knows. Why the hell wouldn't he tell you the truth? Why wouldn't he tell you the cure? You would do anything to prevent more trolls from dying and going through all of this. What if Terezi dies because you don't find a way to get rid of it?

Even though you are as angry as you can possibly be right now, you just close your eyes and blow out a heavy breath. "Come on. We need to go. We shouldn't stick around. More of those things could come out." you say coldly; you wait for everyone to hurry the fuck up and start walking. You all can't just stand around and hover over Tavros' death.

~~~~~~~~( Later )~~~~~~~~~~~

It's been a few days, and none of you have seen or heard any of your friends. And none of you have started much conversation over this time. You are all still sad and mournful over his death. Not just Gamzee, not only Kanaya or Nepeta, you all are. Even you, but you won't show it. You can't because you are suppose to lead; and leaders don't break down in front of their team.

Maybe, hopefully, you'll find them. Are they even alive? In all honesty, this seems really fucking hopeless to you. What are the chances you all ended up in this forest anyway? It is so unlikely, you almost see it fit to quit searching and hide for the rest of your life, but you won't suggest that. For one thing, no one would agree with you and secondly you know that it would just be running away from all of your problems. If you hid, you wouldn't have to deal with pain or sadness... or love. But if you hid, you wouldn't be helping anyone.

You look back at Gamzee. He's seemed out of it since the Tavros incident. The last one behind, walking slowly, stumbling, insomnia, spacing out. You are truly worried about him, but something is stopping you from asking if he is ok. Something is stopping you from asking if there is anything you can do. Every time you look at him, you feel like crying for him or doing something, but you can't. It's an odd feeling that stops you every time you try and walk up to him.

The night goes uneventful, and it seems like an eternity before the sun rises and you all take a rest. The night was very slow, and you aren't happy at all when you lay down your sleeping mat. Setting them close together, you all lie down. Soon enough, everyone is asleep; well, everyone except you and Gamzee.

You lay awake, watching silently as he gets up to look at the sky. You can tell he's crying when he thinks no one else is awake. His shoulders shake and you can hear labored breathing. You've never seen him like this before. It's only happening after Tavros died. It happens every night. But tonight, it bother's you more than ever. One of your team members is crying. And it's not just an ordinary team member, it's Gamzee...

You don't know why he is so special compared to the others, or rather, you don't want to know. You can't accept it. You don't want to. You can't. It's confusing as shit and you don't understand any of it. You bite your lip and look up at Gamzee from your sleeping mat; a purple tear catches the light as it falls to the ground.

You can't take it. You have to do it. The stupid troll can't get over his death, so you are going to do something about it. Getting slowly out of your sleeping mat, you stand up and walk quietly to Gamzee. He is still crying when you come over. He's biting his lip and looking at the ground.

You bite your lip again and slowly, cautiously you wrap your arms around him. He jerks slightly and looks at you, surprise written all over his stupid make-up covered face. He is still crying, and he is still shaking, but it seems lighter, not as heavy. There is a small choke sob and you think you hear him say your name, but you don't respond; you only stand there.

It feels so untroll-like, but so natural to you. You don't want him to cry like this every night. You don't want him to go through this pain alone. You realize that you care about him as a few red tears run down your cheek. You start lightly crying as you think of how he loved Tavros. As you both stand there in the sunlight, hugging, you realize what these feelings have been. You realize that you are in love Gamzee Makara.


	9. Chapter 9

You didn't get any sleep, yet you are still fully functioning. The moon is up and you all search the forest. You're pretty much aimlessly walking around, hoping to come across someone. There has been no sign of Vriska; she disappeared after the incident with Nitram; what worries you is that she seemed to have gotten scratched during the fight; and her pupils dilating like that right before she ran off... She may not be fully troll anymore.

As you lead, the group starts talking about plans for the time ahead. You and Kanaya are pretty much the only ones speaking, with some feedback from Gamzee and Nepeta. You turn your head back a bit to look at Kanaya as you speak with her.

"After we find them, then we find a cure for this... disease." You've had a hard time trying to call it something, so you decided on disease. It seemed to fit anyway and that's what Makara called when you last talked about it. "Any objections?"

"Well," Kanaya started, pausing occasionally to think of what she was going to say, "What if we do not find them, are friends I mean?" She said this carefully as everyone of them knows this is a touchy subject for the group.

You stop and turn around. _What if we can't find them? What will I do?_ The thought of losing any of them seems almost unfathomable to you. Terezi, Captor... Clutching the straps of your pack a little a tighter, you say, "They _are_ out there and we _will_ find them." You say it more to comfort yourself than to give Kanaya an answer. "But if you _must_ know then we will take refuge somewhere and figure out how to cure this fucking disease. OK?" You turn around again and look at the ground as you start walking. What a stupid fucking question. You will find them. It's not like they're dead or anything... right?

Much to your displeasure, Makara says something. "Don't worry Motherfucker. We'll find them; there's always a silver lining in the clouds." He spreads his hands out as he says this and flashes you with a smile. You know he is only trying to lighten up the very solemn mood with that stupid human phrase, but you still fucking hate him for it. How can he be so gog damned happy all the time? Not to mention cute? ...Wait a minute, no stop thinking about that.

But you _really_ can't help it this time. You look back at him and scowl. Like hell you would smile just for him, but you can't help but look at him. The way his hair shines in the moonlight, the way his eyes seem to sparkle with happy things, but the way he can be serious sometimes... He looks like such an idiot when he tries to cheer you guys up.

You feel a smile tug at your lips; the next thing you know, you're walking backwards and staring into his eyes, smiling like a day dreaming grubfuck. You hardly notice when they all stop dead. Everyone's eyes go wide in horror. When Gamzee's smile fades, you stop smiling and walking.  
>You cock your head to one side "What?" then you realize how much of an idiot you looked like when you smiled and you quickly try to cover it up, "I-I wasn't smiling and if any of you <em>ever<em> tell anyone about this, I'll-" but you are cut off by Nepeta.

"Kar-Karkat..." She points behind you with a shaking arm and a slightly opened mouth. She didn't call you "Karkitty".

It was then that you heard it behind you- that horrible gurgling noise. Face going pale, you turn slowly. Behind you, on all fours, gurgling, drooling and growling is a troll girl with dark black hair and horns that are big curvy and remind you of a human animal called a ram. The thing growling at you is Aradia Megido.

Your eyes go wide in horror as your friend gets ready to pounce. None of you want to hurt her, but she pounces at you, bile flying out of here mouth with unfocused eyes that seem to be trying to lock onto a target. That target happens to be you. Instinctively you whip your sickle around and hit her. She makes a noise like a dog yelping and hits the ground running. She tries to take another swing at you, but you whip your sickle for the second time and she yelps again, running away into the bushes. You stand there, stunned with a bit of dark red blood on your cheek.

One thought runs through your head before your hemophobia kicks in: _How many of my friends are still alive?_


	10. Chapter 10

You just barely open your eyes when you see a familiar shape leaning over you. You're about to ask who's there when the voice answers your question.

"Jeethuth KK. You had me thcared out of my witth. I thought you were dead." Yep, definitely Sollux.

Wait a gog damn fucking minute!

"Captor?" Your eyes snap open to reveal your best friend, Sollux Captor. The next thing you notice is how close your faces are. For a brief second, you could have sworn you thought Gamzee was glaring at the both of you.

Just fucking great. Every time something good happens, something bad has to happen. You curse every troll that made your miserable good for nothing fucking life possible. You blink your eyes a few times and push Sollux away from you.

"Gog Captor, of course I'm fucking alive. I'm not that weak." You expect him to smile, even a little, maybe call you an idiot, but he just sits there, wearing a blank face.

Oh gog. It occurs to you now that he doesn't look the same. His clothes are torn. His eyes are sad, clouded; but the big clue isn't any of these. The big clue is the dark red blood all over his face and shirt. Did he...? You almost don't wanna think about it, but you need to pop the question to him. Better now than never... right?

Everything seems to vanish; the only thing left is concern for your friend.

"Sollux," You start; you're not even calling him Captor. "what the fuck happened?" Your such an idiot. How could you have been so inconsiderate of the situation Sollux might have been in?

You are quite aware that everyone is staring at you guys. You are all, staring, waiting. Did any of them try to get a reaction out of Sollux? The thought flies through your head, and suddenly, like a flash rain, he says everything. It all seems to flow out of his mouth like Feferi going on about some fucking rant.

"The'th dead KK!" He starts sobbing, "Thhe wath acting tho calm, it wath only the two of uth, watching each otherth backth! Thhe, thhe... when thhe got bit.. I-I … her calm fathe went away and thhe thtarted thcreaming. Thcreaming KK. Thhe thtarted thpazing. Thhe looked like Thhe wath trying to fight it, thhe turned to me before it happened. I thaw her fathe before.. before...Thhe looked terrified KK... The thcreaming got louder, and and... that thing tore off partth of her thkin. Karkat. Chunkth of thkin were missing. Thhe would have wanted me to kill her before it happened, but. I- I ran. KK I'm thuch a coward!" He makes horrible noises as he cries.

Every time he tries to take in a breath, it comes back out as a choked sob. "KK..." He says, latching onto you; he cries into your shirt. Literally, the yellow tears are staining into your shirt. You rub his back and hug him. All the shit that Sollux' been through... The stuff you've been through up 'till now doesn't even fucking compare.

But you have to be strong.

Determination running through your veins, you gently push Sollux off of you and stand up, holding out your hand to help him up.

"Come on Captor. We need to find Pyrope and the others. We need to keep moving." You say this not as a command, but as encouragement.

Captor's expression suddenly changes. He blinks away the tears and grabs your hand. As you lock hands and pull him up, he smiles.

"Letth go KK."

You look back to everyone and they all understand. They nod, smiles appearing on their faces for what seems like the first time in days. And now, you all set off.

You need to find Pyrope...

No.

You _will_ find her.


End file.
